By the Sword (fanfic)
Chapter 1
I'm afraid that the story isn't going to get really interesting until the next chapter… this just tells about the main character growing up- sort of… there'll be some years skipping by every now and then so r/r plz…
It was in her 2nd year that she had happened upon the Skybolt's village, a sword strapped to her back… her cheeks sunken with fatigue… her eyes wide and nearly unseeing. Several alarming gashes along her side and legs. The child had collapsed upon entering the blooming village. She could remember nothing of where she had come from or to whom she belonged; Kero had taken to the child and took her in as an adoptive child.
During her 3rd year, Isis began showing signs of mage powers and the ability to wield the sword… She would skillfully and silently slip into the armory and search for trainees that were almost always cleaning their weapons. If nobody was there she would run to her sword, Eci Erif, and take it to her special clearing… it gleamed sharply in her small arms as she would peer out into the practice yard, seeing nobody she would tear out of the building and run through the gates, to her clearing in the nearby forest. Trees lay fallen everywhere, and yet there wasn't a single stump for miles. During one of her excursions she was followed by the leader of the skybolts, Kero had seen her leaving the safety of the gates, virtually unnoticed by the others, often enough, leaving at dawn and not returning until late evening. Kero watched in astonishment as a flash of silver caught her attention, there was a crack and a tall elm fell to the ground.
Before her own eyes another tree grew where the previous had fallen. The child stood, a look of deep concentration upon her face, until flowers bloomed from every branch on the tree. She laughed joyfully and lashed out at another tree, it to fell and another grew in its place, once more the child smiled when the flowers bloomed.
The child has the gift of the earth… Kero realized, and she was able to use it perfectly, her handling was well enough that Kero thought that she had had training in the gift before she realized that nobody took in a child so young… it was no wonder that the stumps for the fallen trees were missing… she had regrown them! "Kero!" Isis called in surprise, "what're you doing here?"
"I should ask the same of you child, why are you alone and away from the protection of the village?"
Isis avoided Kero's eyes; "they say that I am not permitted to touch it until I am 12!" She said her speech unhindered by the childish slur that plagued all children at her age, "they keep taking it from me without giving me the chance to show them what I can do!"
"How are you able to cut through such thick trees that most men can't cut through with one swing?" Kero asked softly, "Where did you gain this strength?"
"I don't know… Kero, I've been able to fight for as long as I can remember, why do you think I was able to wander into your village alive?"
"Come back wit me child, your gift is quite rare, we should have begun your training before now if these are the skills you know possess…"
Isis beamed and took Kero's hand happily.
She was now 7, Isis watched her opponent carefully, trying to decipher his moves before he made them, she knocked him off his feet, the boy lost his temper, angry at having been beaten by a child 3 years younger than himself, their tutor was off in the stables, she trusted them to fight well and fairly so there was nobody to watch as he attacked Isis viciously as she tried to help him to his feet. He dragged her to the ground and began to beat her with his blunt sword, she didn't cry out as he expected, just sat there and took the blows calmly, strategizing in her mind on how to get away from the bigger boy, she lashed out and kicked him just below the knee, the bone snapped and he squealed in pain, the tutor came running, took one look at him writhing on the ground, saw Isis' bleeding face and sent him home, he was a disrespectful fighter… they casted his leg, the lower leg swollen horribly, one could only stare in mild amusement as he limped about, trying to get his things together in a shameful silence. Isis was distant for several days before he left, her swollen cheek aching as she touched the stitched wound, he had cut her, beaten her when all she had wanted to do was help her opponent to his feet… breaking his leg was the only thing that would've gotten him away from her. The tutor smiled knowingly at her when she came to practice the next day… inwardly happy that such a small girl could defend herself so well.
3 years late she had mastered the sword and the bow, now it was time to teach the 10-year-old strategies as well as keeping her training going… She was put into several dilemmas, she and three others were taken deep into the forest, blindfolded so as not to be able to follow the others back, and were ordered to find their way back without leaving a trail, they were simulating a run through enemy territory and therefore had to stay utterly silent and unseen. Isis pointed at the fresh horse tracks before them and led the others further into the trees, they didn't understand her strategy until several warriors rode by on horses, dressed as if for war, they followed her in silence. She made the others walk ahead of her as a strange noise caught her attention, she cautiously hid their trail and told the others to climb a nearby tree and stay hidden. The youngest of her group slipped halfway up and she narrowly missed being hit by his flailing form, she dropped silently from the tree, "Nerad, are you all right?" She asked softy.
His face was contorted with pain, "my- my ankle!" He gasped silently.
Isis lifted him into the tree, allowing the two others, Alayl and Breham to boost him onto a branch before climbing up herself, she put her finger to her lips and stared at the figures below the tree, "The captain is following the horse's trail back to the skybolt's fort… it is midsummer so the most of them won't be there to ward off the attack… now then, since we've found nobody, let's get back before they think their scouts have been killed…"
"Right." The second man said, following the first, when the footsteps faded Isis jumped from the tree and motioned the others quickly, "We have to erase the trail and create a new one, lead them off in the wrong direction, "Breham, take Nerad back to the skybolts, follow the trail, erase it as quickly as you can while Alayl and myself created the new one, hurry!"
The ran as quickly as they could until they were far ahead on the trail, Isis waved Breham on as she and Alayl began tearing at the foliage alongside that one, they created a 'horse trail' about 50 yards long before Alayl nearly gave up, "it'll never work…" she said heavily.
"Don't… give up!" Isis gasped, we have to keep the skybolt's base safe, keep going or they'll catch up to us and our plan will fail…"
Alayl nodded and kept digging at the soil, they made the false trail exit at the opposite end of the woods as the base resided, it was there that they nearly collapsed in exhaustion, but the sound of hooves made them dig at the earth much faster than before, they had been leading the strange enemy farther and farther away from their home for nearly a week, it was exhausting, dig by day, hide in a tree by night so as not to be spotted by the scouts that always went a little further ahead before returning to their camp. "We need some help…" Alayl said as she looked over her shoulder, "they don't see us because of the tall grass, but they are right there!"
It was then that they realized that they were surrounded, dark figures crept around them and stood, spears pointed at the girls' throats. Isis stared at the figures calmly, the earth began to shake beneath her and Alayl became afraid, "Don't fear it…" Isis said in a distant voice, "it won't harm us…"
Sharp roots sprung up out of the ground and struck each man's chest, they gasped as their blood soaked through their shirts, there were angry calls from those around them and the circle tightened, Isis began to perspire as the sharp roots struck more of them, "We've been keeping this trail going for to long…" She said to Alayl, "Brace yourself."
Alayl didn't even have time to ask why as she was lifted into the air by a large root that rose over the men's heads, she was thrown into the forest, far away from their attackers, "Isis!" She screamed, "Don't!"
The battlefield was filled with a green glow, none could escape, Alayl ran through the force field, that had not been put up to hurt or keep her out, sword raised, she killed two before the third came upon her, in grim realization she called out to Isis again, the other girl stared in horror as the man plunged his sword to the hilt into Alayl's body. "No!!!" Isis called, anger overcoming her, "You bastards!" She spat venomously, "How could you kill a child!" The roots lashed out in her anger, killing everyone in its path.
The men screamed in pain and tried to run through the barrier, only to have their bodies engulfed in the strange green light and incinerated. The force field exploded with a violent light, leaving Isis the sole survivor of that battle, bodies were everywhere, but she ran to Alayl's, tears in her eyes, she lifted her friend's body and wept as her own people tore out of the forest, weapons raised, they stood in astonishment, staring at Isis holding Alayl's limp body, "Alayl!" She cried, the sky darkened as she pulled the weapon from her friend's lifeless body, "Come back!" She cried, tears falling upon Alayl's ashen face.
A steady beating filled Isis's ears, she closed her burning eyes unaware of the green glow that connected her to Alayl, the wound healed and Alayl's chest moved, once… twice, now it moved regularly, Isis opened her pain filled eyes, her back arched as she fell forward, upon Alayl, who now opened her eyes in shock, the skybolts moved in and asked Alayl what had happened, she told all that she knew.
Isis awoke hours later, a fire burned merrily nearby, seemingly unaware of the horrible crime she had committed… so many deaths at her own hands, Alayl's face appeared over her own, tear streaked, "Isis!" She gasped, "How?"
"Alayl!" Isis hugged her friend, "but- t-they killed you!"
"I know…" Alayl said, "What did you do?"
"I… don't
know." Isis whispered, "but it hurts a lot…"
"You absorbed part of my wound somehow… brought me back and absorbed enough so that it was not fatal to either of us… we will be back at the fort tomorrow evening, with horses we were able to make better time…" Alayl, "They told me Breham got to them the day before yesterday, babbling madly about some enemy force trying to find them and about us leading them in the opposite direction… they believed him and were ready in a candle mark, they found us after your uh… plants did their job, the field was a bloody mess…"
"I know… but there was nothing I could do, that was the first time I'd ever used the plants as a weapon… they sorta had a mind all their own…" Isis said softly.
4 yrs later Kero went off to fight a winter war with all the men and women she could muster… 1 year after that Isis gave up hope of seeing her mother again, she simply didn't return, her training began to slide, not completely, but it did nonetheless. She waited out her last year as a trainee, hoping to search for Kero when she could leave…
A/N well there's chapter 1, hope you all enjoyed it… Well let me know what you all thought…